With the advent of the mass produced automobile, techniques are constantly being developed to decrease the total time of production and lower the cost of production through these improved techniques. This has been particularly important in recent years with increased global competition in all world markets. At the same time, automobile designers are incorporating into the automobile a great number of electrical apparatus for monitoring or controlling various componentry associated with the vehicle's performance. Where there were relatively few electrical wires running from the interior control panel of the automobile to the engine compartment, there is now a great number. It has previously been found advantageous to bundle all of these wires coming from various points within the control panel into a single wiring harness of sufficient length to extend into the engine compartment to all points where connection to individual electrical components is desired.
Another option formerly in use was to, in effect, split the wiring harness along its length and to provide a common integrated electrical coupling at each end of the wiring harness formed at the split. Thus the wires from the control panel would terminate at a coupling member, preferably within the interior of the vehicle and just to the rear of the control panel. The main wiring harness would then comprise a complementary coupling member and an extended harness extending into the engine compartment.
In either case, the individual wires in the wiring harness are then held together in a bundle by means of electrical tape wound in continuous fashion around the circumference of the bundle throughout its length, or plastic bayonet type clips may be used to secure the wires at various points along the length of the wiring harness Either way, at some point along the length of the wiring harness, the individual wires extend beyond the bundle of wires as a free wire having at the unbound end an electrical component of some sort for connection to a respective electrical apparatus or electrical control for monitoring some mechanism.
In the prior art of preparing the abovedescribed wiring harness for shipment with the control panel to the place of installation and for installation in the vehicle, it has been the common practice to secure the free ends of the individual wires to the wrapped bundle by means of temporarily strapping them to the side of the wiring harness with paper tape. The paper tape is wound around the wire at the end so as to not only secure the wire but also cover the electrical component to protect it. Often times this means perhaps a dozen separate paper tape windings on a single wiring harness to cover the components. At the installation site, the control panel is first installed and then the wiring harness is inserted through an opening in the dash panel or wall separating the vehicle interior and control panel from the engine compartment.
Often times the opening in the wall is provided with a thick rubber grommet which holds the wiring harness in slight interference fit and protects the relatively soft wires in the harness from abrasion by the edges of the opening in the wall member. It also precludes cold air, dust and noise from passing from the engine compartment into the interior of the vehicle. Conventionally, the rubber grommet is preassembled on the wiring harness so that once the wiring harness has been pulled through to the engine compartment, the grommet is snapped in place in overlapping engagement with the edges of floor pan defining the opening. It is important that during installation when the wiring harness is passed through the floor pan opening, from the direction of the interior compartment to the engine compartment, the entire wiring harness pass through with ease and without pulling, snagging on, or cutting on the individually bundled wires or the electrical apparatus at the free ends of such wires. The paper tape precludes this.
Obviously wrapping the wiring harness with paper tape at a dozen different positions is a labor intensive process. Further, after installation and prior to making the electrical connections, the paper tape must be removed. This also takes additional time coupled with the fact that during the process of removal, if one is in haste or simply pulls on the connector instead of carefully unwrapping the tape, the electrical apparatus themselves may become detached from the free ends of the wire or the electrical connection damaged thus making the harness useless. This means the harness must be repaired, and thus more time is lost. In some cases the entire wiring harness may have to be scrapped. It is also possible that the damage may go unnoticed; thus making the eventual repair all the more costly.
There was also in use prior to the present invention, the practice of wrapping the entire harness in a shrink film. As with the other prior art systems described above, such a technique makes difficult the freeing of the individual wires and electrical connectors.